Big retailers utilize curbside pickup to compete with Amazon ahead of Prime Day

Just because we are still months away from the Holidays doesn’t mean companies aren’t chomping at the bit to break out the big sales.  

This week, retailers including Walmart, Target, Home Depot, and more are launching huge sale events in order to compete with the early Amazon Prime Day, which starts Tuesday Oct. 13.  

Although Amazon Prime Day usually dominates the markets in terms of net sales, this year, even amidst the pandemic, the big retailers think they have what it takes to compete. Their secret weapon? Curbside pickup.  

Curbside pickup isn’t necessarily a new practice, as most large retailers have been consistently using it to help limit the flow of customers in the store while still driving profits. The idea is for the customers to purchase an item online and pick it up in their car in front of the store. Think of it as picking up your kids from elementary school, but in this case your kid is a new flat screen TV and the school is your local Walmart.  

This new enhanced feature by businesses to use curbside pickup has worked wonders during the pandemic. Target’s curbside sales increased more than 700% last quarter, and Best Buy made nearly 41% of their $5 billion Q2 revenue in curbside pickup sales, the NYT reports.  

Amazon boasts some key competitive advantages in the retail industry, one of the most prominent being their speed and accessibility. With curbside pickup, retailers believe that they can match that speed and accessibility, making it more enticing for people to purchase items from a store down the street rather than wait 5 days for that item to arrive from Amazon.  

Looking ahead, the big question will be whether curbside pickup will continue to be a relevant form of purchasing post-pandemic or if it will fizzle out after customers gain back their confidence shopping in-store.